Shower problem - need trademan

T

tropic

The shower on my IP is leaking. The wall around the shower on the other site of the wall is damp and now it has also damaged the vanity next to the shower.
How can I tell if this is caused by a leak in the pipe or the shower?
It looks quite bad. You can wipe the plaster off the wall!

Do I call a plumber or shower repairman?

The tenant is moving out in 2 weeks time and I'd like to get it first before we look for a new tenant.
 
tropic said:
The shower on my IP is leaking. The wall around the shower on the other site of the wall is damp and now it has also damaged the vanity next to the shower.
How can I tell if this is caused by a leak in the pipe or the shower?
It looks quite bad. You can wipe the plaster off the wall!

Do I call a plumber or shower repairman?

The tenant is moving out in 2 weeks time and I'd like to get it first before we look for a new tenant.
Click to expand...


in this case i would remove a peice of wall lining behind the shower (on the adjoining room side) and have a look from there ,run the shower and see if you can spot the problem ,if nothing appears then have someone take a shower and you look again to see if the problem occurs. it could be anything from poor silicon joins in the corners ,or as simple as a poorly sealed tap washer/packing gland letting water past when on ,dont be afraid to make the hole in the back a reasonable size as its easier and cheaper to patch a wall than to replace a tiled shower ,
 

Things to look fore in no particular order

Remove shower rose & cap off, turn on hot & cold alternatively listen for leaks.

Apply duct tape over floor waste fill shower base with water see if water level drops over knight.

When removing duct tape check to see how quickly the water flows out.

Check grout lines for cracks.

Remove taps & check flange washers.

Make sure that the shower screen & the bottom row of tiles are seal correctly.

Gerd
 
Thank you guys for the valuable advise.
I printed them so I don't forget what I should check.

I also talked to someone yesterday and he told me to turn the water main off and write down the water meter. Come back 24 hours later, if the meter didn't move then it will be the grout that need fixing.
Otherwise it could be leaking around the shower (or somewhere else).

I wouldn't be difficult to remove part of the wall since it is quite soft from the damp.
 
tropic said:
Thank you guys for the valuable advise.
I printed them so I don't forget what I should check.

I also talked to someone yesterday and he told me to turn the water main off and write down the water meter. Come back 24 hours later, if the meter didn't move then it will be the grout that need fixing.
Otherwise it could be leaking around the shower (or somewhere else).

I wouldn't be difficult to remove part of the wall since it is quite soft from the damp.
Click to expand...

it may be difficult now but either way you will have to replace at least part of it ,gyprock will handle a small amount of water but will and i mean will get to a stage of simply falling apart ,better to do it now and find your leak than be forced to do it further down the track with even more water damage
 
Tropic,
Follow the advice provided above.

It could be that the grout is too porous (aged) or the tiles have hairline cracks. I had this problem in my PPOR about 6 or so months ago. The wall on otherside (solid brick) was very damp, smelly and evidence of a long term leak (blistered paint & surface render). I was expecting to have to retile and/or regrout. Having my ensuite also out of action I wanted a short term fix.

Stumbled upon "Diggers Shower Coat" at hardware - about $20 for 500ml - will do 2 showers. It's a liquid silicone and it fills the grout pores and tile cracks. Follow the instructoions on tin, Wear a mask (it stinks) and brush it on. Absolutely magic stuff. Highly recommend it. Saved a lot of money and the shower's still going strong.

Project 1080

The project: 10 IPs in 80 mths.
 
please, people if you give information lets make it the right information!

As gerd says remove the rose as a loose fitting may dribble into the wall cavity, down inside the wall and try to pond on a noggin,

as gerd says , remove the tap handles check both the spindle "o" ring and the flat body washer. the best way to do this is to cap off the shower rose and turn both spindels on.

Any leaking that penatrates through the tiled wall is not likly to wet/soak the wall on the otherside,
Any leaks through the shower hob will soak through to the floor joists, etc, and not half way up the wall.

The wet seal A.S have changed so many times in the last 60 or so years to accomadate changing and on going issues with this particular problems to shower hobs.
Pending the resulting findings from the above tests, and they all look good, the plumbing failure will be in the bridge section,{where taps/spindles join} or the rose section , this is where the NO, 19 fitting is silversoldered to the pipe.
Good luck with this diagnosis, cheers craigb.
 
Thanks guys for the input.

Sorry I forgot to mention the wall is a brick wall.

The wall outside the shower at my rental property is pretty bad. the bad part is at the bottom along the floor.
I think I better re grout the shower regardless.
Should have done it long time ago, now I have to fix the vanity too.:(

Actually I have a similar problem at my house too only not as bad. I patched the grout but didn't do anything. The damp part of the wall is about 40 cm above the floor. I couldn't see any leak when I removed the shower rose but this is with the shower rose on.

I will follow gerd's advise on both showers.

I have not seen "Diggers Shower Coat" but I will look for it.

Do we have a better product than just a standard grout?
 
tropic said:
The wall outside the shower at my rental property is pretty bad. the bad part is at the bottom along the floor.
Click to expand...
If you sealed the grout then your leak could come from the taps. They shaft could be worn out or the fibre seal is crack /perished and it drips behind the tiles. You'll see it if you pull the taps apart.
While you looking at the taps have a look at the tile hole around the tap because it may be the cause of the problem. The water could be coming down the wall along the joints and collect in the tile hole around your tap. If that is not sealed the water could then go behind the tiles and into the porous mortar joints.
The moisture takes a long time to dry so even if you think you fixed the problem you won't know for sure for a while so its best to treat everything as suspect. Even a pinhole in the tile grout could cause damp on the back of the wall given enough time.
Do we have a better product than just a standard grout?
Click to expand...
If you can't find a grout sealer use some water based primer to paint the grout and as you go along wipe it off the tiles with a dry cloth before it dries.
 
There are quite a number of products on the market that claim to being able to waterproof grout.

From my experience in the tiling industry I came across a product that worked providing the grout was sand & cement based such as Davco Grout.

I have since become the Victorian distributor for this & other related products.

The company that manufactures the EP Waterproofing System is based in WA.

http://www.enviropacific.com/pdf/EP-WaterproofingSystem.pdf

Gerd
 
We had a problem with a leak from our PPOR shower. Backing onto the tiled shower stall was our linen closet, where things were damp and smelly.

Plumber told us to check our insurance. Insurance assessor was sent out and asked us to have our plumber remove a section of tiles from the shower to get to the combination, find the leak and the insurance would pay for new tiles for the whole shower stall (because they could not match the hideous brown tiles already there). As the bathroom was going to be ripped out within a year we asked if we could put the payout in the bank rather than actually retile, which was approved by the insurance company.

Just thought I would mention it as I don't think this thread has mentioned that this could be covered by insurance.
 
If t turns out to be the tiles or grout (not a leak behind the wall in the taps/pipes) i would only try resealing the tiles once. In my experience resealing with any products, even companies like megaseal, dont last that long... a couple of years max. I believe it would be more economical in the long run to strip the tiles on the shower, waterproof and retile. I have come accross so many people who have spent $100 and $1000 on sealers, new grout etc only to have the problem reoccur every year or so.
 
re brick walls : the older hobs are either , folded gal iron, or a hard fiberglass hob, both of these will fail, eventually, the sealers used in bathrooms of the "era" were grout,
The mpa for water proofing surface is i think ? 32 mpa in strength, grout is about 15, the best bet is check those penetrations and if all else fails re do the shower area, and cover your self for the next 20 years???
Sorry thats my best advice,
 
my mates IP started to leak after 4 yrs, when I took the taps off there was no sealant at all to stop the water getting into the wall. For some reason the tenant had started to turn the shower rose onto that wall and got flooding in the bedroom. I siliconed it up and not a problem since and scored a bottle of bundy rum for helping :D
 
Sounds like your going to be replacing the tiles and ac sheet/plaster, so replace it with a sheet of aqua panel or something similar.
http://www.laminex.com.au/pdf/brochures/aquapanel.pdf
It glues straight onto brick or stud wall etc, no more mouldy grout.

I have it in my PPOR and have replaced the tiles in 2 of my IP's, it's easy to install and will out last tiles.

Cheers
Ken
 
I checked for the leak today. As GERD suggested I put a cap on the shower and turned the taps on. Straight away I saw a leak coming from the hot water tap. After I replaced the seal the leak stops. The leak was quite bad, probably would fill up a bucket in less than 2 hours. However this was with a shower cap on. Without a shower rose I think the leak would've been a lot less.
I am quite confident that was the cause of the dampnest on the the wall.
We removed the plaster opposite the tap all the way down to the floor. I think what has happened was the water leak dripped from the tap and it travelled on the way to the floor. When it hit the concrete it had nowhere else to go but sideway along the wall. The wall is wet and plaster came off easily.

I checked the grout and it looks to be in a pretty good condition. I will either regrout it or apply a sealent or both.
Other then the tap, I also found a leak on the shower screen adjacent to the vanity.

The vanity that was damaged by the leak has been removed. The wall around it is damp. I hope one week is enough for the wall to be dry enough for me to put a new vanity. Also the wall will be replastered next week. Never done plastering before, hopefully not too difficult.
The sooner I get it fixed the sooner I can rent it out again.

When I visited Bunnings today I saw selections of bathroom vanities. They look good and well priced. Unfortunately they are not going to fit because the bottom part where the shower screen sits is half a brick shorter than 90 cm. Well, you can't win them all. I have to rebuilt it.

Thank you very much for all your help guys.
Much appreciated.
 
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